A/N: Each chapter is another grade in school, and I'm not sure how far this is going to go up to. We're going to say that Ryou is only five months older than Ichigo, for purposes that will become obvious. This is young!IxR.
Disclaimer for all chapters: I DON'T OWN. Yay.
Chapter 1: Preschool
Note: I personally didn't go to preschool, so I don't know a lot about it. Bear with me here.
And now, here we go.
They had always lived across the street from each other, so why did he pick now to notice her? He was nearly four years old, for crying out loud. Something should have been done before this point.
She looked up from where she was playing house with two other girls. "What are you looking at?"
He quickly turned his head. "Sorry, Ichigo."
Her face softened. "Since you said you're sorry, you can play with us, if you want, Ryou."
He walked over to where they were playing. "Who can I be?"
"You can be the grandpa. I'm the mom, Mint's my kid, and Lettuce is her sister."
"Okay," he said nervously.
Geez, even now, she wouldn't give him a place of authority.
Playing house was fun–for the girls. Ryou sat in a "wheelchair" (actually a plastic kid's chair) the whole time, and only got to say one thing ("Hi.")
When the bell rang, all the kids ran in a frenzy toward the door to the classroom. The teacher let them out, and they rushed towards the door out of the building, the only thoughts in their minds centering on escaping.
Ryou sat down in a chair by the entrance. Keiichiro was always late.
Every child had gone home except Ryou. One of the teachers offered to give him a ride home, and he declined as politely as he knew how to. "Never go anywhere with strangers" echoed in his mind. Life's most important lesson so far.
When Keiichiro finally came to pick him up, he had already been waiting for nearly an hour.
Keiichiro, a 17-year-old, was always stared at by girls...in fact, as he walked towards Ryou now, he caught one of the younger assistant teachers looking at him with a gleam in her eyes. He shrugged it off as he always did, and apologized many times to Ryou. But Ryou wasn't really paying attention. The only thing on his mind was Ichigo, and how she had looked...cute...in that apron.
